My Cherry Tomatoes Picks For 2016

2015 tomato growing wasn't the best for me, between the weather and me feeling rotten much of the time, I never really got to plant the main batch of tomatoes in the poly-tunnel. They sat in their little pots calling to me but, it was just too much work for me to get them planted and tend them. I did grow a selection in the greenhouse, mostly cherry types, with one or two experimentals and a couple of big beefsteaks. Oh and three Crimson Crush F1 plants outside (but that's another story.)  Luckily the greenhouse plants fruited well enough to take the edge of my worst tomato cravings and we ate some gorgeous tomatoes. I love cherry tomatoes!

This year I'm bringing back many of my favourite cherries to the greenhouse. Sungold have got to be pretty much at the top of my list. I love Sun Sugar F1 too, so very similar to Sungold. I'm not sure which of these two I like best, it often changes through the season as the flavours and sweetness develops.  

I'm introducing five new to me varieties, Amorosa F1, Bite Size, Garnet, Lucky Tiger and Sunrise Bumble Bee. Amorosa is a very red cherry, firm flesh with green gel, taste is meant to be good and sweet. Bite Size and Garnet are British bred and importantly open pollinated varieties (I can save seeds from ripe fruit and the resulting plants will be true to type).  They are from the same breeders, Gourmet Genetics, of Sweet Aperitif and Black Opal and Rosella. These three have all done very well here, easy to grow with good crops and they taste just delicious! I'm hoping the two new ones will follow in their footsteps and become firm favourites too.

Also new are Lucky Tiger and Sunrise Bumble, both open pollinated and have been bred in the USA by Artisan Seeds (Fred Hempel). I've grown several other varieties from Artisan including Blush and Green Tiger, Pink and Purple Bumble Bee and they really are beautiful looking tomatoes, unfortunately for me they don't taste as good as they look. Others would disagree, I'm hoping these two hit the mark for me this year. 

Here's my full list of cherries for the greenhouse (though you never know!)

Amorosa F1 *

Bite Size *

DWS 

Floridity F1

Garnet *

Green Pear

Lucky Tiger *

Medovaya Kaplya

Melzane

Rosella

Suncherry F1

Sungold F1

Sungrape F1

Sunrise Bumble Bee *

Sweet Aperitif

Tigris F1

* varieties that are new to me this year. 

Sown in Jack's Magic compost 5th March and set in a Vitopod propagator. 

I'm hoping they combine to give a good selection of cherry tomatoes with different colours, shapes, stripes, anthocyanin and flavours. There should be something to snack on in the garden and also keep summer mealtimes supplied. Can't wait!